Luck and Hard Work

There’s something that’s quite common amongst folks in my line of work. It’s called “Imposter Syndrome”. Simply put, this means that a lot of people feel like they do not deserve to be in the position they are in. They don’t think that they are talented enough to warrant the salary, or the promotion, or the huge bonus that they would have gotten. They think that they just got lucky.

I have been having this feeling lately as well, so I just thought I’ll just pen down my thoughts. Generally, that helps me make sense of things.

Try and think of a big achievement that you had in the past. And then think really hard about what led to that achievement. You would find that there was surely some element of luck there. Maybe you got lucky with a few guesses you made in an exam. Maybe you got a tough question in an interview that luckily you had just solved last night.

I’ll tell you a bit of good luck that I have had in the past. I was placed in a company in Gurgaon with an OK package, nothing to brag about. I had interviewed for JP Morgan as well but sadly was not selected. About a month later, I got a message from the placement cell, telling me that one of the guys selected for JP had decided to reject the offer. I was next on their waiting list, and so I got the job.

That was a really big thing. It allowed me to stay in Mumbai, I got a better package. And I got the brand name JP morgan in my resume which has helped me a lot in getting my later jobs. And for all intent and purposes, it was sheer luck.

Here’s the thing about luck though. It is out of our hands. Working hard, on the other hand, is something that anyone can do. So why focus on something that we have no control over? Someone can have great luck, but still, end up nowhere because he doesn’t want to work. On the other hand, someone can put in more effort and try and make something good out of a shitty situation as well.

So I guess, we can treat bad luck or good luck as just an event. Have a laugh about it, enjoy it if you can, and get back to work.